US drops $10 million bounty on HTS leader following direct talks
The leader of Syria's Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that headed a lightning rebel offensive snatching Damascus from government control, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, arrives inside the Syrian capital's landmark Umayyad Mosque to address a crowd gathered there on December 8, 2024. (AFP Photo)
The United States lifted the $10 million bounty on Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on Friday, following a historic meeting between US diplomats and HTS leadership in Damascus.
Barbara Leaf, the US State Department’s senior diplomat for the Middle East, announced the decision after meeting with Sharaa, who also goes by the name Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
The talks, which took place on Friday, focused on Syria’s future, security, and counterterrorism efforts. Leaf emphasized that Sharaa’s commitment to preventing the Daesh from operating in Syria played a crucial role in the US decision to remove the bounty.
Leaf explained the policy shift, stating, “It was a policy decision aligned with the fact that we are beginning a discussion with HTS.” She added that maintaining a bounty on Sharaa’s head would have been counterproductive to these talks. The meeting marked the first direct US diplomatic engagement with HTS since the US embassy in Syria closed in 2012.
The US delegation, which included Leaf, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, and Syria expert Daniel Rubinstein, was tasked with exploring Syria’s political transition after the fall of Assad’s regime. Although the discussions with HTS were described as “productive,” US officials remain cautious, stressing that any future engagement with Syria’s new political forces will depend on concrete actions, not just promises.
The lifting of the bounty on Sharaa comes as Syria’s Kurds remain at the center of ongoing U.S.-Türkiye tensions. The U.S. backing of the SDF, which is made up largely of YPG terrorists, has been one of the key strains of U.S.-Türkiye relations.
Türkiye, which views the YPG as a terrorist organization due to its ties to the PKK terrorist organization has repeatedly urged the US to cut ties with the YPG, which has played a significant role in controlling northern Syria.
